Submitted by Shaddox on
Image by MythologyArt from Pixabay
Every civilisation and culture has had its own idea and concept of God.
Can any of them say for definite that their particular view of God was the right one? How can they know for sure? Their “God” has always been the product and outcome of their own thoughts, opinions, and imaginations about the subject.
The Jewish God has always corresponded to Jewish thought, the Christian God has always corresponded to Christian thought, the Muslim God has always corresponded to Muslim thought, and so on.
Even people belonging to one religion have somewhat different ideas of God.
And when people worship or pray to their God, what is it they are really worshipping and praying to? Their own idea of God, the mental image in their own imagination.
Yet they insist that this God of their imagination is the only true God. They say that anyone who does not believe in the God of their own conception does not really believe in God at all. Some people even say that everyone who does not believe in and worship this “God” will be eternally damned.
Many people in different religions do not have religious statues, pictures, or icons. But they still have idols. They are still idol worshippers. They have created their own mental image of the Divine and tricked themselves into believing that this image and idea in their own mind is the absolute truth about the matter.
They worship the child of their own imagination and then make this child greater than themselves, by maintaining that it is the Absolute and Infinite Deity.
This is only a little higher than worshipping stone statues and wooden images. Their idol is not physical but mental.
Everyone accepts the existence of the Infinite. Even atheists and agnostics cannot deny the Infinite. They know that everything finite, including this universe, must have originally come forth from something infinite, something not finite at all, whatever that may be.
This is viewed as a necessity and an undeniable fact by every logical, scientific, and philosophical mind.
In today’s world many people think for themselves. They make use of their right of independent thought. They are not lazy or foolish enough to just accept and believe whatever the religions tell them.
And so they cannot go along with the notion that the Infinite, the Cause and Source of all, is a big man up in the sky, with a chosen people, a favourite religion, and very human-like characteristics and attitudes. They are sensible enough to recognise that this sort of “God” is the result of man’s own imagination. They see that it is a “God” created in man’s own image and likeness.
They also realise that if something is truly infinite, then it means there can be nothing finite about it whatsoever.
If something is truly infinite, it cannot have a form, an appearance, a body, a location, a sense of favouritism, a name, gender, feelings, or even the faculties of will, mind, or intention. These are all finite qualities. In fact, every quality we can conceive of is finite.
There can be nothing finite about the Infinite or it would not be the Infinite. This word literally means “not finite.”
If something is truly infinite, then there can be nothing else except that. Everything that exists must be an expression, a manifestation, of the Infinite. This “Infinite Something” must be the innermost essence and true nature of everyone and everything that exists, in all the Kingdoms of Nature and on every level and realm of life.
If something is truly infinite, it must be omnipresent. This means “always present absolutely everywhere.” If something is truly omnipresent, in the true meaning of the word, there can be nothing else apart from that. There could be no room or possibility for anything else to exist apart from that Omni-Presence, that One Presence, that “Infinite Something.”
If something is truly infinite, it cannot be a Being. It cannot be a Person. How can any type of Being or Person be infinite, omnipresent, or absolute? It doesn’t matter what religions tell us about this. We have to think for ourselves or we may become mind-slaves to someone else’s ideas and imaginations.
Most people’s concepts of God are limitations.
They have limited the omnipresent Absolute by trying to drag It down to the human and material level. They have limited the Infinite by trying to fit and force It into a tiny little man-shaped box. And they have limited themselves by placing their own imaginations and perceptions on a pedestal of divine infallibility.
So what is the Infinite? What is God? The Indian and Eastern religions have quite a different perspective than the three Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Buddhism and Jainism, two Indian religions, both deny the existence of God. They do not and cannot deny the Infinite. They teach the unity and divinity of all life but they maintain that there is no-one and nothing which can properly be thought of or referred to as “God.”
Hinduism is the world’s oldest religion. It is a very diverse religion, with many different viewpoints and perspectives existing side by side. But the main teaching of the central Hindu scriptures is about Brahman, which is a name applied to the Divine. They say that Brahman is the Absolute, the Infinite, the One Ultimate Reality. They say that it is not a Being or a Person but an impersonal “Principle,” the Principle of Consciousness itself, Life itself, Existence itself, the Eternal Energy pervading and underpinning this entire universe.
They also say that Brahman is the highermost part of every being. It is our Higher Self, our Spirit, our eternal essence. It is not personal or individual but universal; the One Universal Self of all. All is Brahman. Therefore all life is sacred, all life is precious, all life is divine.
The truth is that all religions say the same thing, not necessarily in their public or exoteric teachings and theologies but in their esoteric systems. Every religion has an esoteric side, a deeper, scientific, more metaphysical and universal teaching. These have often been persecuted and suppressed by the churches and the priesthood.
In Judaism there is the Kabbalah. In Christianity there is Gnosticism. In Islam there is Sufism. And although religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism are already quite esoteric when compared with Western religions, these also have a still deeper side to them than is generally known
According to Theosophical teachings, all religions contain some degree of Truth. Some religions are more true than others. But no religion can contain the whole Truth, for every religion is self-limited and Truth cannot be contained, confined, or limited in any way.
Truth transcends all religions. It also pre-dates all religions. The mysteries and secrets of life and the universe are known to a very small number of people in this world.
Theosophy uses terms such as “Deity,” “The Divine,” and “The Absolute” but generally avoids the “God” word. It says that the One Infinite Divine Principle is undefinable and indescribable but that the ancient Hindu teaching about Brahman comes closest to the reality.
It is literally beginningless, endless, boundless, and entirely unconditioned. It is not a Being. It is Be-ness itself.
For thousands of years, man has been looking in the wrong direction in his efforts and attempts to reach and know the Divine. He has been looking outwards and upwards. If he had been looking within himself and within all living beings, he would have discovered the truth far sooner. This is the method practised and taught by all the great Sages and Yogis of the East and by the true mystics of all nations and religions in all ages.
Everything is alive. All is Life. Life is One. There is only one Life, the One Infinite Divine Life, the One Eternal Energy. It is expressing Itself in, through, and as every form, being, and thing. Everyone knows and senses this instinctively. It is also being increasingly discovered and confirmed by science, although science itself is limited by its own materialistic dogmatism.
Life is everywhere. Respect it, cherish it, love it, serve it, help it in its evolution.
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